Restaurants/attractions for young teens?

[Suesam]

In January we(me, dh, ds12, and ds 14) are going to wdw with my sil, bil, and nephews, 12 and 14. I am trying to research the best things to do with children of this age. I am thinking Epcot,2 days, MGM 1 day and personally I do not think we could go to WDW without going to MK for a day. I am wondering which restaurants would be the most fun and entertaining for them.

I personally would like to do a character breakfast but that may be a little too childish?

We are planning to let the two 14 year olds go by themselves for short periods of time. Is that ok?


Any advice from other parents of teens would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much!
Sue

 

[Mom to Jordan]

My DS is 12 and our last trip was December. He still likes MK, and we would never leave it out. DS likes SpaceM, BTM and SplashM there. He likes Epcot alot and like AK too. MGM is his least favorite but he loves Rock & Roller coaster. He was really not too much into character meals this last trip but we did CM with same age cousins and that was fun. He really likes Whispering Canyon Cafe, 50's prime time and Ohanna's. He really likes some down time in the pool each year too.
I think that the 14 year olds would be fine in the same park with cell phones for a couple hours at a time. I might even consider letting the 12 year olds hang with them if you can trust them all to stay together and be well behaved. Our 12 year olds wanted to go off last year but we were not ready. We told them next trip when they are 14. We are now however thinking of a trip next year when they are 13 so we will most likely not let them until the next year after that. Our boys know the parks well and can get around better than me!!However, with all of them boys and near the same age, you might not want to seperate at all as most things should be ok for everyone.

We have done January and LOVE it more than any other time of year!!! Have a blast

Jordan'mom

 

[jx3smom]

Why not try a half day at Animal Kingdom and one and a half days at EPCOT. My kids love the River Ride and Dinosaur at AK and also the Safari. Rock and Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror are MGM favorites and at MK it's Space, Thunder and Splash Mountains and Buzz Lightyear. EPCOT favorites are Mission Space, Test Track and Innoventions.

Some of my kids favorite restaurants are ESPN (can't miss this one), Planet Hollywood and Cape May Clambake. Ohana is also a fun restaurant.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

With a family of 3 ds teens, their favorite restraunts are: ESPN #1, one of the ds commented on our april trip, this place is just so awesome, lets come again, guess they didnt remember we went there when they were little, ds 13 likes rainforest cafe, they all love chef mickeys just for the huge amounts of food and atmosphere for dinner and they really like coral seas when we did it for the atmosphere but they didnt care for the food too much. They like crystal palace lunch too for a break in the mk. Those are sit down places. Our ds favorite place to go off on their own is disney quest in downtown disney. You just cant get them out of there. Last trip they went 3 times. They love all the mountains and tot and rnr at mgm. Also ds 16 was obsessed with playing wwtbam at mgm this time. They also wanted to do the fishing trip but its pretty expensive so we skipped it this time. Good luck and have a great trip.

 

[dzneelvr]

My teens are 2 years apart and they grew out of character breakfasts along about 10 years old.
DS is now 17 and DD is 14 and they like Sci Fi at MGM; Biergarten and Le Cellier at EPCOT; Tony's at MK to eat at.

And remember that a good burger and fries can be had at most sit down restaurants, so that's always a safe bet.